Friday, October 28, 2011

St. Simon, "the Canaanite" not from Canaan and "the Zealot" who was no Zealot

October
28th, Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude

“In Persia, the birthday of the
blessed Apostles Simon the Canaanite and Thaddeus, who is also called Jude; Simon
preached the Gospel in Egypt and Thaddeus in Mesopotamia, and then they both
entered Persia and suffered martyrdom there, after having made subject an
innumerable multitude of that people to the yoke of Christ.” (Roman
Martyrology)

It is a minor point of irony
that both Simon and Jude share names with others of the Apostles – St. Simon,
of course, shares his name with St. Peter who was first called Simon; while St.
Jude has this name in common with Judas, the betrayer. Thus, St. Simon is
called either “the Zealot” (“Zelotes”) or “the Canaanite” in order to distinguish
him from the Prince of the Apostles, while St. Jude is called “Thaddeus” as
distinct from the Iscariot.

We do well on this day to
consider the person of St. Simon the Zealot: Who was he? Where was he from? Was
he a Zealot? And how did he die?

St.
Simon was not a Canaanite

In Matthew 10:4 and Mark 3:18,
St. Simon is distinguished from St. Simon Peter as being “the Canaanite”. This
has led some – notably, those who know neither Greek nor Hebrew – to conclude
that Simon was literally a Canaanite gentile, and not a Jew. A brief
consideration of the Greek text of the Gospels will show that the traditional belief
that St. Simon was a Jew is the better opinion.

The Greek text of both Matthew
and Mark calls St. Simon a “Canaanite”, but uses the Greek word: ὁ Καναναῖοςwhich
can be transliterated as ho kananaios.
However, the land of Canaan – from which come the Canaanites – is named after
Canaan, the son of Ham, whose name is spelled Χανααν (chanaan). The Canaanite woman of Matthew
15 is called “Canaanite” with the Greek word Χαναναία (chananaia)

What is important to notice
here is that the first Greek letter of the word “Canaanite” as applied to St.
Simon is the “Kappa” (Κ) or the “k”, while the first letter of the word “Canaanite” as applied to
the people of the region of Canaan is the “Chi” (Χ) or
the “ch”. They are not even the same
words! Though they look identical in English (and also in Latin), the Greek (as
well as the Hebrew) is clear: St. Simon is not a “Canaanite” as being from Canaan.

What then does the word “Canaanite”
mean, as applied to St. Simon? Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide explains: “This Simon is
not so called because he was sprung from the Canaanites, as some wrongly
imagine, for all the Apostles were Jews, but because he was born at Cana of
Galilee.”

Still, there is some linguistic
difficulty here as well (the Greek for “Canaanite” does not quite match up with
the Greek for “of Cana”) – hence, some of the modern scholars argue that St.
Simon did not even come from Cana. [personally, I side with St. Jerome and the
major part of the tradition (of both East and West), holding that St. Simon was
indeed from Cana in Galilee]

However, we must admit that the
sur-name “Canaanite” implies more than simply the location from wither Simon
came. Indeed, the name “Canaanite” is closely related to the Hebrew word for “zealous”.

St.
Simon was not a Zealot

In both Luke 6:15 and Acts
1:13, St. Simon is called “the Zealot” or “Zelotes”. However, we are not to
think that St. Simon was a member of the politico-religious Jewish movement of
the Zealots. Rather, St. Simon is called the Zealot in reference to his great
zeal for the faith.

Here it is good to note that
the Hebrew word for zeal is qana,
which would easily lead to a Greek transliteration into “Canaanite” or Kananaios (as in Matthew 10:4), meaning “the
zealous”. Thus, even when St. Simon is called “the Canaanite”, the real meaning
of this word is that he was filled with zeal for the true faith. Hence, “the
Canaanite” means the same as “the Zealot”.

St. Jerome, in particular, has maintained
that the name “Zelotes” or “the Zealot” (together with “the Canaanite”) is a
double allusion both to the fact that St. Simon was born in Cana in Galilee and
to his great zeal.

St.
Simon, the bridegroom of Cana?

The Greeks, Copts, and
Ethiopians believe that St. Simon is Nathanael who is mentioned only in St. John’s
Gospel. However, the Latin tradition (with good, indeed better, reason) holds
that Nathanael is St. Bartholomew.

Still, it is worth noting that
the Greeks have traditionally believed that St. Simon was the bridegroom of the
marriage of Cana, where our Savior turned the water into wine.

Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide is open
to this tradition as well; since there is good reason to believe (following the
more ancient tradition, rather than the modern speculation) that St. Simon was
originally from Cana.

The
martyrdom of St. Simon

St. Simon preached the Gospel
throughout the known world – though it is difficult to establish just when and
where this ministry took place. We have good reason to believe that he suffered
martyrdom in Persia, perhaps at Suanir. Other ancient traditions believe that he
was crucified while ministering as the Bishop of Jerusalem (after having preached
in Samaria for some time).

The principal Latin tradition
holds that Simon was sawed to pieces in Suanir, Persia. Moreover, most depictions
of his martyrdom show St. Simon being sawn in half – either top down, or bottom
up. For this reason, he is often represented as holding a saw.

I have immediately considered that Cana is the wedding feast when reading your words concerning the Cana relationship to 'zeal'. I recite "Quoniam zelus domus tuæ comedit me" of both the Gospel and the Psalm. A word that is often on my lips and in my mind.

Am I allowed to see this as Christ fortelling of His role as the Eucharist where we literally consume His body, blood, soul, and divinity?